ESFA Facilities Report 2019

ESFA Facilities Report 2019 Page �1

ESFA FACILITIES REPORT 2019


“We are all in the game today, for its future tomorrow!”

Each of our member clubs needs and deserves to be able to have a facility to call its own and our Association should have

a regional home for the game as a whole to prosper.

Introduction The following report is basically all about tomorrow and the statistics that will help us with what planning we would need to do to make sure that as we constantly grow, that we can look after that growth. No child or for that matter adult, should be turned away because our facilities cannot support them.

Land in the eastern suburbs is both expensive and in very short supply. What is free of buildings is more than likely owned by a government of some sort. So, we need and will work with all levels of government to achieve our facility objectives.

This will not be easy and will take a lot of time. For instance, we worked with Randwick City Council as the leading sporting body on what is known as Pioneer Park, Malabar, for four and a half years. They built an AFL field! We learn’t alot!

Its not just about the elected personnel we need to discuss our objectives with but also the governments executive personnel. We need to make sure that they are all talking the same narrative and that we can add something to that dialog.

It will be a long and sometimes, frustrating road. As this report shows and there are many more reports to help us, the population is growing and plans need to be put in place now to help those that want to play the beautiful game in the future, can and will always be welcome!

CENTRE OF FOOTBALL PROPOSAL, SOUTH AUSTRALIA


Homes for our clubs

Very few of our grounds are solely for the use of a single football club – very few of our grounds feel like a ‘home’ ground for an ESFA club and many are shared with other sports or other competitions.

We want to have a situation where ESFA clubs have proper home grounds, where they can properly set down roots.

We think the ideal club home ground has: • In sufficient number for all teams to train and play at one venue • Sufficiently lit for training and ideally matches • Level and have an even covering of grass or a suitable and well maintained synthetic

surface • Of an appropriate size • Available from start of March to end of August • A canteen for the club to be able to generate revenue • Noticeboards for the club to be able to put up messages and posters • Sufficient Storage to hold training and match day equipment in a secure, tidy and

safe manner • Toilets for males and females as well as accessible toilets and facilities • A referees’ room • Change rooms including female change rooms • Some shelter from the elements • Sufficient parking

Most clubs across Sydney have grounds where they can tick most of these boxes. At present, scarcely any ESFA clubs can tick all of these boxes.

This puts our clubs at a relative disadvantage, restricting their ability to offer comprehensive contributions to the community.

We need to help clubs to be able to access local, state and federal grants with shovel-ready plans, able to be put in place at short notice.

By identifying what clubs ought to have, as we have done, we can then help clubs develop their own facilities plans to make sure that they identify the projects they need and can get them to a sufficiently advanced stage that funding can be put to work quickly.

An issue that weakens clubs’ arguments for facility development is that very few of our clubs are ‘comprehensive’ clubs, offering all types of football. This limits their community reach and thus arguably impedes their ability to seek grants.

It is simpler to make an argument for a facility improvement if the improvement is going to be enjoyed by the widest possible audience.

As can be seen in the below table, most of our clubs are not comprehensive and this limits their call for help.


Breakdown of offerings by club:

Equally, many of our grounds don’t have comprehensive offerings.

Ideally, anyone who lived near a football ground would be able to take their children (or themselves) to a club based at that ground and be able to sign up to play football but many of our grounds have only limited options, there are many grounds in our region that have no clubs there at all.

Club MiniRoos Boys Girls Men Women

Barnstoneworth United FC X

Coogee United FC X X X

Dunbar Rovers FC X X X X X

Easts FC X X X X X

Glebe Wanderers FC X

Heffron Hawks FC X X X X X

Kytherians Soccer X

Lions FC X

Lokomotiv Cove FC X X

Maccabi Hakoah Junior FC X X X

Maccabi Hakoah FC X X

Maroubra United FC X X X X X

Mascot Kings FC X X X X

Pagewood Botany FC X X X X X

Phoenix FC X

Queens Park FC X X X X X

Reddam House X X X

Redfern Raiders X X X

South East Eagles FC X X X X

Sydney CBD FC X

Sydney University SFC X X

UNSW FC X X

Waverley Old Boys FC X X X


Breakdown of offerings by ground:

Ground MiniRoos Boys Girls Men Women

Alexandria Park X X

Alexandria Park Community School

Booralee Park X X

Camdenville Oval

Centennial Park (Brazilian Field) X

Centennial Park (Mackay Fields) X X

Centennial Park (Mission Field) X X

Centennial Park (Parade Grounds) X

Chifley Reserve X

Christison Park X X X

Coral Sea Park X X X X X

David Phillips Sports Fields X X

ES Marks Field X

Heffron Park (East) X X X X X

Heffron Park (Synthetic)

Heffron Park (West) X X X

Hensley Athletic Field

Jellicoe Park X X X X X

JJ Cahill High School X X

L'Estrange Park X X X X

Matraville Sports High School

Moore Park Synthetic Field X X X X X

Moore Park West

NCIE X X X X X

Paine Reserve X

Queens Park X X X X X

Randwick Girls High School

Rushcutters Bay Park

Reg Bartley Oval X X

Rodney Reserve

Rowland Park X X X X

Snape Park


*Used either regularly or irregularly by ESFA clubs, but outside the ESFA boundaries

Between these two tables, we can see that the offerings at each club and each ground are not comprehensive, limiting the reach for each club. There are also grounds that are available but not used by ESFA.

At the same time, some of the clubs and grounds that have comprehensive offerings have inadequate facilities to be able to provide the sort of service to the communities that are commonplace in other regions.

This puts a brake on the development of the clubs and limits the benefits that the clubs can provide to their communities.

For ESFA clubs to be able to have true homes of their own, we need to recognise that small clubs with limited offerings are not able to lobby as effectively for improved facilities as those with broader community reach.

Consequently, we need to consider whether this is the best approach for the future.

We could seek to group clubs together in order to manufacture a broader offering at each venue.

We could seek to have the Association itself (as the organisation with the broadest reach of all) become responsible for ground bookings.

Alternatively, rationalise the number of clubs we have in order to be able to have fewer and larger clubs, offering a comprehensive suite of footballing opportunities to male and female players of all ages.

ESFA may need to consider a club development plan that identifies pathways for clubs to build up to delivering a comprehensive suite of offerings to their local communities and in so doing, will be able to provide more? All these considerations must be discussed and ultimately become part of the plan.

For those clubs that do offer comprehensive services, ESFA will look to offer support to ensure that they have the right mix of offerings at their home grounds to allow them to grow to their potential and provide maximum benefit to their communities.

By working together as one community in football, we can ensure that we are all able to grow together, for the good of our communities and for the good of the game.

South Sydney High School

Sydney University* X X

Tempe Reserve

The Domain X

Turrawul Park X X X

Waverley Park X X X X

Wentworth Park*

Wentworth Park Stadium*

Ground MiniRoos Boys Girls Men Women


Room to grow, spaces to play The situation with fields will become more difficult as our population grows. NSW Planning and Environment figures show that we are set to have very significant growth in the five key local 1

government areas that make up the vast majority of ESFA’s territory:

Botany Bay Randwick Sydney Waverley Woollahra Total

Population (2016) 45,300 147,100 207,250 71,450 58,250 529,350

Population (2031) 56,050 174,300 273,500 82,150 67,250 653,250

Growth 24% 18% 32% 15% 15% 23%

New South Wales State and Local Government Area Population, Household and Dwelling Projections: 2014 1

Final – available from http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Research-and-Demography/Demography/Population-ProjectionsESFA Facilities Report 2019 Page �8

5SPORTS FOOTBALL CENTRE, ENDEAVOUR SPORTS HIGH SCHOOL, CARINGBAH

http://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/Research-and-Demography/Demography/Population-Projections



Most concerning for the provision of fields is that the population of 5-19 year-olds is set to grow even faster than the rest of the population:

This growth of juniors outstrips the projected growth in this age group in either the SSROC region (28%) or the wider metro area (30%). This may be because the type of new developments we are seeing favours young families with children but the net result is that we are set to have a flood of kids in the area and we have nowhere near enough space for them to play.

Our clubs need to be ready and able to accommodate this demographic shift and we need to ensure they have facilities ready to go.

We need to have more clubs ready to take on junior players and a broader spread of junior clubs to ensure that children from all over the region have junior football that is close to home.

To assess how many fields we need, we note a Southern Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils study of sports fields management which showed that within the SSROC region, fields were 2

allocated to sports as follows (in descending order):

In this region, when we include council, public school and other grounds that are available for football to use, Councils provide 36 fields across the Botany Bay, Randwick, Sydney, Waverley and Woollahra local government areas, servicing a population estimated by NSW Planning and Environment to be 529,350 in 2016. 3

Further to this, the Centennial and Moore Park Trust provide another 23 and there are 12 more available through schools, universities and other providers.

This works out to 71 fields in total - a ratio of 1 football field per 7,456 people. To match the SSROC benchmark across these 5 LGAs, we would need a further 61 football fields!

Botany Bay Randwick Sydney Waverley Woollahra Total

5-19 (2016) 7,450 21,050 13,900 9,450 8,650 60,500

5-19 (2031) 9,550 28,050 22,100 12,450 10,650 82,800

Growth 28% 33% 59% 32% 23% 37%

Soccer 1 field per 4,000 people

Cricket 1 wicket per 5,300 people

Rugby league / union

1 field per 17,000 people

Baseball / softball 1 diamond per 22,800 people

Shared use fields 1 field per 41,500 people

Hockey 1 field per 68,000 people

Australian Rules 1 field per 68,000 people

Athletics 1 track per 76,000 people

Review of Sporting Fields Management in the Southern Sydney Region, Table 3.3, p23 – available from 2

http://ssroc.nsw.gov.au/ssroc-projects/archived-projects/sports-fields-management/

New South Wales State and Local Government Area Population, Household and Dwelling Projections: 2014 3

Final ESFA Facilities Report 2019 Page �9

http://ssroc.nsw.gov.au/ssroc-projects/archived-projects/sports-fields-management/

This situation is only set to get harder as the population booms in the region. NSW Planning and Environment estimates that between 2016 and 2031, these five LGAs will see population growth of well over 100,000 people.

The effect on demand for sporting facilities will be enormous – creating a need for more than 30 more fields!

This shows that if there is not a significant increase in the number of fields provided, the large gap between what is available and what is needed will only grow.

This disparity shows how critical it is that areas like the Bays Precinct and the development corridor from Waterloo through Zetland and Green Square to Botany Bay see significant provision of fields to service the growing population.

Whilst it is unrealistic to expect that there will be a more than doubling in the number of fields in the region, what is clear is that there will need to be creative thought about how facilities can best be utilised, including maximising intensity of use through provision of synthetic surfaces and lighting to enable use at night time, as well as embracing “show up and play” models of sport that enable more people to be active in less space and less time than traditional formats.

The recently released draft City of Sydney Sports Facilities Demand Study indicates that the 4

City of Sydney will be looking at options including purchasing land to convert it into sporting facilities in future years in order to address the growing shortfall. It may be that other local authorities will need to consider doing similarly.

Football bodies and local authorities will need to be able to work together to find creative solutions.

OwnerBotany Bay Randwick Sydney Waverley Woollahra Total

Council 8 15 8 2 3 36

Other owner 3 11 12 9 35

Total 11 26 20 11 3 71

Population (2016) 45,300 147,100 207,250 71,450 58,250 529,350

People per field 4,118 5,658 10,363 6,495 19,417 7,456

Benchmark fields needed 11 37 52 18 15 132

Surplus/deficit 0 -11 -32 -7 -12 -61

Population (2031) 56,050 174,300 273,500 82,150 67,250 653,250

People per field 5,095 6,704 13,675 7,468 22,417 9,201

Benchmark fields needed 14 44 68 21 17 163

Surplus/deficit -3 -18 -48 -10 -14 -92

Open Space, Sports and Recreation Needs Study - Volume 4 Draft Sports Facilities Demand Study, p37 – 4

available from http://sydneyyoursay.com.au/open-space-study/documentsESFA Facilities Report 2019 Page �10

http://sydneyyoursay.com.au/open-space-study/documents

Inventory of football grounds in/or adjacent to ESFA

Owner/Park FieldsTraining lights

Match lights Canteen Toilets

Regular Weekend User(/s)



1 no no no yes N/A

Botany Bay

Booralee Park 1 yes no no yes Lokomotiv Cove, Redfern Raiders

Hensley Athletic Field 1 yes yes yes yes ESFA, Hakoah Sydney City East (FNSW)

Jellicoe Park 3 yes yes yes yes Pagewood Botany

L'Estrange Park 1 yes yes yes yes Mascot Kings

Rowland Park 2 yes no no yes Pagewood Botany

Centennial and Moore Park Trust

Centennial Park (Brazilian Field)

1 no no no no Dunbar Rovers, Glebe Gorillas (SAFL)

Centennial Park (Mackay Fields)

2 no no no yes Waverley Old Boys, Schools

Centennial Park (Mission Field)

2 no no no yes Maccabi Hakoah, Lions, Schools

Centennial Park (Parade Grounds)

3 no no no yes Schools, ICFA

ES Marks Field 1 yes no yes yes ESFA, Waverley Old Boys, Schools


Moore Park Synthetic 1 yes yes yes yes Dunbar Rovers, Waverley Old Boys, Queens Park

Moore Park West 4 no no no yes Waverley Old Boys, Schools

Queens Park 9 no no no yes Queens Park, Easts, Schools, Touch football

JJ Cahill High School

JJ Cahill High School 1 no no no yes Mascot Kings, Randwick City (SAFL)

Matraville Sports High School

Matraville Sports High School 1 no no yes yes N/A

Marrickville

Camdenville Oval 1 yes no no yes CDSFA

Tempe Reserve 4 yes no yes yes CDSFA

NCIE

NCIE 1 yes yes yes yes Dunbar Rovers, Phoenix

Randwick

Chifley Reserve 2 yes yes no yes Kytherians

Coral Sea Park 3 yes yes yes yes Maroubra United

Heffron Park (East) 3 yes yes yes yes South East Eagles, Coogee United, Coogee White Tigers (unaffiliated), Schools





Heffron Park (Synthetic) 1 yes yes yes yes Dunbar Rovers NPL (FNSW)

Heffron Park (West) 4 yes yes no no Coogee United, Glebe Wanderers, Heffron Hawks

Paine Reserve 1 yes no no yes Barnstoneworth

Snape Lower 1 yes yes no yes N/A

Randwick Girls High School

Randwick Girls High School 1 no no no yes N/A

Royal Botanic Gardens & Domain Trust

The Domain 1 no no no yes Sydney CBD

South Sydney High School

South Sydney High School 1 no no no yes N/A

Sydney

Alexandria Park 1 yes yes yes yes Lokomotiv Cove

Reg Bartley Oval 1 no yes yes yes Dunbar Rovers, Rugby

Turruwul Park 1 yes no yes yes Redfern Raiders

Wentworth Park (outside ESFA boundary)

4 yes yes no yes CDSFA

Wentworth Park Stadium (outside ESFA boundary)

1 yes yes yes yes Greyhound racing, Balmain (FNSW)





University of Sydney

St Johns Oval (outside ESFA boundary)

1 yes yes no yes Sydney Uni, Schools

Sydney University Football Ground

(outside ESFA boundary)

1 yes yes yes yes Sydney Uni NPL (FNSW)

The Square (outside ESFA boundary)

1 yes yes yes yes Sydney Uni SAP (FNSW), Schools

UNSW

David Phillips Field 2 yes yes yes yes UNSW, UNSW (FNSW)

Waverley

Rodney Reserve 1 no no no no N/A

Waverley Park 1 yes no no yes Waverley Old Boys, Maccabi Hakoah Juniors, Queens Park

Woollahra

Christison Park 2 no no yes yes Maccabi Hakoah Juniors, Schools

Rushcutters Bay Park 1 no no no yes N/A





ULTIMATE SOCCER, FAIRFIELD

The Association’s financial contribution Since 2012 every registered player has contributed $10 a year to a Ground Development Trust Fund. This is to put towards facility development for the whole of the Association.

This fund now totals over $630,000 and is growing every year. At present this is just short of giving us free speech at the table but has been recognised as a very good sign of faith.

It may be that this can’t be directed as a contribution towards purchasing land but could be directed towards securing access (through lease or licence arrangements) to a facility on an ongoing basis, thereby satisfying the requirement that it be directed towards improving access to all facilities.

It could be used for developing leased or licensed lands or helping with grants to develop larger projects.

In the course of the Association’s own operations, it spends approximately:

• $75,000 per annum on fields for development programs and representative pathway programs;

• $20,000 per annum on securing fields to facilitate catch-up games; • $25,000 per annum on securing fields for the ESFA Grand Finals Series, and; • $40,000 per annum on leasing office space.

The Association could therefore more than likely redirect some $160,000 per annum towards ‘home’ ground projects and assist in being an on-the-ground presence, helping to manage the facilities going forward.


A Home of Football for the Eastern Suburbs With the assistance of Football NSW and Football Federation Australia, we would like to work with local authorities to access grants that can help Council to fund capital works that otherwise may not be possible. We want to discuss how we can work with Council to achieve what we believe to be mutual aims and gain mutual benefits.

The Association is setting important goals that, if achieved, will deliver strong and lasting benefits to football and the local community.

We are looking to establish a Home of Football for the Eastern Suburbs.

In many other regions of Sydney, the regional football authority has a home base that serves as a beating heart for the game in that region. Venues like Blacktown Football Park and Cromer Park provide high level match and training facilities, multiple fields and meeting rooms. There is no such facility at present in the Eastern Suburbs.

These facilities allow the local community to benefit through such things as:

• A home base to create a rich carnival atmosphere for events like gala days, finals series, registration drives and coaching clinics

• Ability to run regular coach education and development programs – helping the Association to ‘coach the coaches’, improving the quality of football offering for local clubs and schools

• ‘Home’ grounds for local clubs to play in competitions like the Football NSW Waratah Cup, State Cup and Champions of Champions competitions in the Eastern Suburbs rather than always having to travel to away games

• The capacity to host carnival events like the finals days of State Cup and Champions of Champions competitions along with finals series for Football NSW competitions, bringing high-level footballers and their families to the Eastern Suburbs

• Year-round access to one or more synthetic football fields to run training and development programs for players from grassroots to elite levels

• Capacity to assist local clubs with hosting mid-week games under lights • A space to assist the Association’s representative teams and local representative clubs to

train their players to compete at the highest levels of NSW football • Community rooms that would be available to local community groups including football

clubs to use as a meeting space

Were we to be successful in attracting support and funding for such a facility, we would hope that we could arrange an ongoing non-exclusive tenancy of the venue that would permit us to deliver the above benefits to the football community.

We feel that development of such a facility in the Eastern Suburbs would be a beacon for the game and have benefits that spread far beyond our nearly 9,000 players and their families. We feel that given the nature of benefits that could accrue, a project of this nature could attract support from other levels of government.

KNOX REGIONAL FOOTBALL CENTRE, VICTORIA


The ideal Eastern Suburbs Home of Football The ideal Eastern Suburbs Home of Football has at least three fields to cater for:

• coaching courses and demonstrations • development squads • mid-week catch-up games for clubs • representative trials, training and matches • school holiday clinics • summer football programs and competitions • corporate tournaments • Champions of Champions and State Cup fixtures

The fields should be:

• sufficiently lit for matches • fenced and at least one has adequate seating and facilities to meet FNSW competition

regulations • level and have an even covering of grass or a suitable and well maintained synthetic

surface • be an appropriate size • accompanied by sufficient parking • available to the football community to use all year round

The ideal Home of Football has a building with:

• office space for a small team of staff • a large meeting room for Association meetings • small meeting rooms for Clubs and Association • a canteen for the association to be able to generate revenue • noticeboards for the club to be able to put up messages and posters • storage sufficient to hold training and match day equipment in a secure, tidy and safe

manner • toilets for males and females as well as accessible toilets and facilities • a referees’ room • change rooms including female change rooms • shelter for spectators from the elements


ESFA Facilities Report 2019

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